Cooking Chicken

macton1

I've been wondering about how I add my calories when I cook chicken at home in a skillet. So far, I've just been adding a generic chicken breast and adding whatever I cook it it (butter/oil) each separately to my meal. I do this because I usually try to use something lower in calories, like Smart Balance, to cook with rather than regular butter. Is that accurate, or does the cooking process itself add more calories to the food? Would I be better off just logging as a fried chicken breast from MFP's database? Thanks!

alaskaang

I always record the simplest form of each thing plus whatever I add to it. If you chose fried chicken it would likely be different than sauteed especially if the database entry happened to be breaded. If one exists for the item you are looking up, the entries without an * are from the FDA database rather than member entry.

sgv0918

you are always better putting in what you do and not just database

emdeegan

weigh the chicken breast before cooking it.. log it under raw chicken breast. measure cooking oil or weigh butter.. log it. then you have exactly what you have consumed.

JuniperT

weigh the chicken breast before cooking it.. log it under raw chicken breast. measure cooking oil or weigh butter.. log it. then you have exactly what you have consumed.

this is what I always do as well, just to be as close as possible

PikaKnight

Tonight I made turkey cutlets and when I did the recipe in MFP, I put in everything I did. The oil used, the seasoning, etc.

And to add, thank goodness for the Recipe option! If I had to calculate the calories per serving and nutritional breakdown, I'd cry...lol.

macton1

Thanks everyone! I'll just keep doing what I'm doing then...and yes, I am so grateful for the recipe tool!